Movieworld - Cars of the Stars
by Steve
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Movieworld - Cars of the Stars was a museum in Buena Park that showcased custom cars and hot rods painted up by famous artists like Von Dutch and others. It doesn't exist anymore.
OCThen reader Sean writes asking if anyone had more information about it, and offers up some of his memories...
I was looking for some info on Movieworld - Cars of the Stars in Buena Park on your site, but noticed it was not on the list of Attractions. I went there when it first opened and all of the exhibits (movie props and celebrity/movie cars) were just laid out on the floor in a large warehouse in rows. It was not the fanciest why to display them (it looked like a flea market), but it was still really cool, especially if you were a movie buff.
I remember hand painted signs describing some of the props and what movie they came from.
Years later, I went again and it had been transformed more into a museum with false walls which led visitors on a specific path (like Movieland Wax Museum), more dramatic lighting, and a snack bar in the middle of the museum. I also remember TV commercials which featured Billy Barty promoting the museum and sliding down a tube slide which was also in the middle snack bar area.
I have not seen much about this museum on the Internet although it seemed to be a decent attraction in Buena Park at the time. Is there any other information on it and what happened to the collection? I think I saw some of the cars at the Peterson Museum in L.A. but the movie props were the most interesting part of it for me and I often wonder what happened to them. Some of them included movie miniatures like ships, trains, and submarines. The most memorable prop was the miniature of King Kong shackled on display (near the end of the 1933 movie) which Willis O'Brien used in the stop motion animation.
When the Von Dutch clothing and hats were popular a few years ago, I did see something mentioned in an article about Von Dutch living in the parking lot of this museum in a bus. Other than that, I have not seen or heard anything else and I am wondering if anyone else has any memory about this place.
Keep up the great work. I just found your site and have a lot of exploring to do still on it!
Cheers,
Sean
P.s. I wonder if you remember the religious wax museum that was connected to Movieland Wax Museum too? It had a replica of Michelango's Statue of David in front of the entrance.
Click on "Post a Comment" and let us know if know you anything.
Labels: Buena-Park, Movieworld-Cars-of-the-Stars
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Crescent Junior High School - Buena Park
by Steve
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
An anonymous OCThen reader asks about what happened to Crescent Junior High School in Buena Park...
Does anyone remember Crescent Jr. High and where did it go?? I went there in 62-63, then to Kennedy High class of 66. I have lived in Michigan and Northern California and now in the foothills of the Sierras above Fresno..but each time I go into BP..I am always at a loss as to where that funky styled jr. high went.
I did a quick Google search and came up empty. If you know something about it, or attended the school, post a comment here.
Labels: Buena-Park, Crescent-Junior-High
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Buena Park Bigfoot - Brea Creek
by Steve
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Does anyone remember the "Bigfoot" of Brea Creek, in Buena Park?
Well, an anonymous OCThen reader does. This person submitted the following memory to us (he was also the same guy that sent us the
Wham-O Superball story), describing a tall hairy beast spotted in a drainage channel in Buena Park...
Wow I wish I had found this site earlier.. I hope I get to find out more about the Superballs..
In the meanwhile another funny thing I remember was the Buena Park "bigfoot". It had to be very early 80s because I was attending Beatty Elementary School. Down at the northern-most end of Western, there's a drainage channel that used to run parrallel to the back of McComber Jr High. People claimed to have seen a "bigfoot" there. There was even a story in the Register, and a composite drawing of "it".
It turned out to be a very tall and hairy homless guy.. It was even on TV and I remember my friend got to wave at the camera.... Weird stuff.
I remember that kind of thing.. I could go on and on, Buena Park was still just a small place, there were lots of apartments, but not like now.. A lot of the houses are gone. Things like The Buttery or the Farmhouse resturaunts are now car lots, there's no more chickens running around Grand Avenue any more either..
I did some Googling on the Buena Park Bigfoot, and found a brief mention in the
September 20, 2001 edition of OC Weekly...
IN SEARCH OF . . . BUENA PARK
Brea Creek. Site of Orange County's only reported Bigfoot (yes, that Bigfoot) sighting. In 1982, residents on nearby Franklin Street reported a smelly, hulking figure prowling around the drainage channel. Police took plaster casts of immense footprints and determined that the culprit was just a particularly large and unkempt transient. At least, that's what they want you to believe. Brea Creek underpass at Franklin and Beach.
I also found the following mention on page 90 of a book entitled, "
Mothman and Other Curious Encounters" by Loren Coleman, published by Cosimo, Inc. in 2002...
In recent years, sightings of the strange three-toed Bigfoot have been reported from surrounding areas of southern California, notably the smelly eight-footer seen emerging from a drainage ditch in Buena Park, in May 1982.
Hmmm, so let's see, an eight-foot tall, hairy, human-like creature living in a drainage channel in Buena Park. I guess that explains how Knott's Berry Farm came up with the name "Bigfoot Rapids".
Labels: Bigfoot, Brea Creek, Buena-Park
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When Land was Really Cheap
by Steve
Thursday, October 25, 2007
There was an anonymous comment posted on our
Knott's Berry Farm article today, about how land was so cheap, it was being given away...
There is a story in my family, that a Great Uncle, Homer Clemons, owned an orange grove in the area. He got the land when it was so cheap, they gave you an acre if you subscribed to the local farm newspaper for a year. Two years subscription got you two acres. The story goes that he left his land to two brothers, who sold it to a man named Knotts. I don't have any proof of this story, but he and wife Belle are on the 1920 & 1930 census. Both are buried at Fairhaven Memorial Park.
I'm not sure how a newspaper would buy up land, just to give it away, or maybe perhaps they were giving away land they didn't need anymore. But imagine owning a couple acres of land in the middle of Buena Park right now?
Labels: Buena-Park, Knott's-Berry-Farm
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Arnold's Farm House
by Steve
Saturday, August 05, 2006
One of the famous landmarks in Orange County was Arnold's Farm House, a buffet-style restaurant in Buena Park, on the corner of Stanton and Manchester, just a block from Knott's Berry Farm.
I was started in 1956, supposedly from an old farm house that had been standing there since the early 1900's. It was a landmark because of the huge neon windmill drawing in families tired from a day at Knott's.
The family that owned Arnold's Farm House, also owned The Buttery, another restaurant on the other side of Stanton, but a traditional, up-scale place.
The restaurant finally gave way to the wrecking ball in 1988, and is now the home to a car dealership.
A guy named Chase Maxwell has an brochure from Arnold's Farm House dated 1981. He scanned it and send it in to us.
Click on the images below to see the full size...
Thanks Chase for these images!
Do you remember anything about Arnold's Farm House? Care to share some memories? Click on "Post a comment" below, and share it with us.
Labels: Arnold's-Farm-House, Buena-Park, The-Buttery
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Alligator Farm in Buena Park
by Steve
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Did you know there was once an alligator farm in Buena Park?
It was adjacent to Knott's Berry Farm on La Palma Ave. The Radisson Suites Hotel now sits on the old spot. I always wanted to go there, but my folks would never take me there.
We collected a few alligator farm memories from folks during the old days of OCThen, and posted them below...
By: Chrissey, 20 Aug 2002
The alligator farm was fun, but they scared me. The alligators were very quiet and had a harness on him and people would sit on the alligator and have their pic taken. Both the Alligator Farm and Knotts seemed so far away from L.A.
By: Pat Swift, 9 Aug 2002
I remember taking my son's there (Alligator Farm). We were amazed at how a snake felt. We were always interested in the alligators but watching how fast a cobra or rattlesnake could strike was the main attraction for us.
By: Ross, 13 June 2002
Being there when I was about 6 or 7. I am now 48, I have had a facination with alligators and crocodiles all my life. I currently live in Boise, Idaho and have 2 pet american alligators (Forest and Bubba). I remember my mom taking me and my brother there it had to be like 1960 or 1961, they had baby gators for sale in the gift shop, and of course I wanted one, but didn't get one. But, I was trying to figure out where a Southern California kid would develop and interest like this. I was talking to my dad and he said he remember the Los Angelos Alligator farm in Lincoln Heights LA, well I did some research and sure enough it started there in like 1905, and then moved to Buena Park, where it was until about 1986. Anyway, I wish I could have gone there as an adult before it closed. Little trivia, they moved all the gators and crocs by private Boeing 707 to an estate in Florida owned by the inventor of Naultilus workout equipment!
By: John Nemeth, 15 Jan 2002
What a great place if you were a herpatologist. They had almost every species of crocodile, many rare species that are seldom seen. The place was always deserted, not well known as a popular tourist attraction. They did snake shows with cobras.
By: Mark Wallace, 31 Dec. 2001
Remember the Alligator Farm across the street from Knott's? This was such a great creepy place that had been there forever. Full of giant alligators, croc's and tortoises, snakes and lizards. I still have dreams about this place eventhough it was torn down years ago.
Do you have any memories of the Alligator Farm? Post a comment below, and share it with us!
Labels: Alligator-Farm, Buena-Park
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